Part 116 (1/2)

ACT OF SUPREMACY, 1534 A.D.

Henry's next step was to procure from his subservient Parliament a series of laws which abolished the pope's authority in England. Of these, the most important was the Act of Supremacy. It declared the English king to be ”the only supreme head on earth of the Church of England.” At the same time a new treason act imposed the death penalty on anyone who called the king a ”heretic, schismatic, tyrant, infidel, or usurper.” The great majority of the English people seem to have accepted this new legislation without much objection; those who refused to do so perished on the scaffold. The most eminent victim was Sir Thomas More, [19] formerly Henry's Lord Chancellor and distinguished for eloquence and profound learning. His execution sent a thrill of horror through Christendom.

THE MONASTERIES SUPPRESSED

The suppression of the monasteries soon followed the separation from Rome.

Henry declared to Parliament that they deserved to be abolished, because of the ”slothful and unG.o.dly lives” led by the inmates. In some instances this accusation may have been true, but the real reason for Henry's action was his desire to crush the monastic orders, which supported the pope, and to seize their extensive possessions. The beautiful monasteries were torn down and the lands attached to them were sold for the benefit of the crown or granted to Henry's favorites. The n.o.bles who accepted this monastic wealth naturally became zealous advocates of Henry's anti-papal policy.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RUINS OF MELROSE ABBEY The little town of Melrose in Scotland contains the ruins of a very beautiful monastery church built about the middle of the fifteenth century. The princ.i.p.al part of the present remains is the choir, with slender shafts, richly-carved capitals, and windows of exquisite stone- tracery. The beautiful sculptures throughout the church were defaced at the time of the Reformation. The heart of Robert Bruce is interred near the site of the high altar.]

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION UNDER EDWARD VI, 1547-1553 A.D.

Though Henry VIII had broken with the Papacy, he remained Roman Catholic in doctrine to the day of his death. Under his successor, Edward VI, the Reformation made rapid progress in England. The young king's guardian allowed reformers from the Continent to come to England, and the doctrines of Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin were freely preached there. At this time all paintings, statuary, wood carvings, and stained gla.s.s were removed from church edifices. The use of tapers, incense, and holy water was also discontinued. In order that religious services might be conducted in the language of the people, Archbishop Cranmer and his co-workers prepared the _Book of Common Prayer_. It consisted of translations into n.o.ble English of various parts of the old Latin service books. With some changes, it is still used in the Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States.

THE CATHOLIC REACTION UNDER MARY TUDOR, 1553-1558 A.D.

The short reign of Mary Tudor, daughter of Catherine of Aragon, was marked by a temporary setback to the Protestant cause. The queen prevailed on Parliament to secure a reconciliation with Rome. She also married her Roman Catholic cousin, Philip of Spain, the son of Charles V. Mary now began a severe persecution of the Protestants. It gained for her the epithet of ”b.l.o.o.d.y,” but it did not succeed in stamping out heresy. Many eminent reformers perished, among them Cranmer, the former archbishop.

Mary died childless, after ruling about five years, and the crown pa.s.sed to Anne Boleyn's daughter, Elizabeth. Under Elizabeth Anglicanism again replaced Roman Catholicism as the religion of England.

234. THE PROTESTANT SECTS

EXTENT OF PROTESTANTISM

The Reformation was practically completed before the close of the sixteenth century. In 1500 A.D. the Roman Church embraced all Europe west of Russia and the Balkan peninsula. By 1575 A.D. nearly half of its former subjects had renounced their allegiance. The greater part of Germany and Switzerland and all of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Holland, England, and Scotland became independent of the Papacy. The unity of western Christendom, which had been preserved throughout the Middle Ages, thus disappeared and has not since been revived.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map, EXTENT OF THE REFORMATION, 1524-1572 A.D.]

COMMON FEATURES OF PROTESTANTISM

The reformers agreed in subst.i.tuting for the authority of popes and church councils the authority of the Bible. They went back fifteen hundred years to the time of the Apostles and tried to restore what they believed to be Apostolic Christianity. Hence they rejected such doctrines and practices as were supposed to have developed during the Middle Ages. The Reformation also abolished the monastic system and priestly celibacy. The sharp distinction between clergy and laity disappeared, for priests married, lived among the people, and no longer formed a separate cla.s.s. In general, Protestantism affirmed the ability of every man to find salvation without the aid of ecclesiastics. The Church was no longer the only ”gate of heaven.”

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHAINED BIBLE In the church of St. Crux, York.]

DIVISIONS AMONG PROTESTANTS

But the Protestant idea of authority led inevitably to differences of opinion among the reformers. There were various ways of interpreting that Bible to which they appealed as the rule of faith and conduct.

Consequently, Protestantism split up into many sects or denominations, and these have gone on multiplying to the present day. Nearly all, however, are offshoots from the three main varieties of Protestantism which appeared in the sixteenth century.

LUTHERANISM AND ANGLICANISM

Lutheranism and Anglicanism presented some features in common. Both were state churches, supported by the government; both had a book of common prayer; and both recognized the sacraments of baptism, the eucharist, and confirmation. The Church of England also kept the sacrament of ordination.

The Lutheran churches in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, as well as the Church of England, likewise retained the episcopate.

CALVINISM

Calvinism departed much more widely from Roman Catholicism. It did away with the episcopate and had only one order of clergy--the presbyters. [20]

It provided for a very simple form of wors.h.i.+p. In a Calvinistic church the service consisted of Bible reading, a sermon, extemporaneous prayers, and hymns sung by the congregation. The Calvinists kept only two sacraments, baptism and the eucharist. They regarded the first, however, as a simple undertaking to bring up the child in a Christian manner, and the second as merely a commemoration of the Last Supper.

THE REFORMATION AND FREEDOM